US President George W. Bush said on Thursday that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal was "secure" following two failed assassination attempts on President Pervez Musharraf in the last three weeks.
Bush also said he emerged from a recent telephone conversation with Musharraf convinced that the "friend of the United States" and ally in the global war on terrorism had the situation under control.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"Obviously terrorists are after him and he sounded very confident that his security forces would be able to deal with the threat," Bush said. "He sounded confident and therefore I feel confident about his security situation."
In response to a reporter's question, the US leader said that Pakistan's nuclear weapons "are secure and that's important. It's also important that India as well have a secure nuclear weapons program."
Bush praised the atomic rivals for working to resolve longstanding disputes peacefully, and said they appeared to be making headway "slowly but surely" on defusing simmering rows like the one over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
"I commend the leaders of both countries for taking steps toward a peaceful reconciliation of major issues that have divided them," he said. "It looks like they're making progress towards reconciling differences, slowly but surely."
India stunned the world in 1998 by conducting five nuclear tests and declaring itself a nuclear power. Pakistan, which has fought three full-fledged wars with India, conducted its own tests within days.
The two countries have undertaken a series of tie-mending moves since April and took another step closer to normal relations on Thursday by resuming commercial flights after a two-year ban.
The flights resumed three days before Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was due to make his first visit to Pakistan in four years for a seven-nation South Asian leader summit.
"We're hopeful that the Indians and Pakistanis, in upcoming meetings, will be able to begin a dialogue on a variety of issues," Bush said after an afternoon hunting quail with his father, former president George Bush, in Falfurrias, Texas.
Bush also praised Musharraf for his help in the war on terrorism, launched after members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
"President Musharraf has been a friend of the United States. He's been a stand-up guy when it comes to dealing with terrorists," he said.
"We are making progress against al-Qaeda because of his cooperation. We need to do more, particularly on the Pakistan-Afghan border," said Bush, who later returned to his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
US officials have expressed concern that members of al-Qaeda and the Taliban Islamic militia have been staging cross-border attacks meant to destabilize the fragile rule of Afghanistan's fledgling government.
Musharraf, who appointed himself to the presidency in June 2001 after toppling an elected government in a bloodless army coup in 1999, has escaped two near-miss assassination attempts in the past three weeks.
He claimed a mandate for another five years in a flawed May 2002 referendum.
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